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Thanks so much for stopping by! I believe that everyone can have a beautiful home without spending a fortune! One of my favorite things to do is find creative ways to re-purpose things I already have on hand, or have picked up at yard sales and thrift stores. Join me as I share with you some of my favorite ideas for crafting and decorating, as well as travel adventures, and fun things that I pick up on my treasure hunts! Much of my work is influenced by my love all things French, nature, and of course shabby chic! I have gotten so many creative ideas from you very talented bloggers out there, and I hope that I can be an inspiration to you as well!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Faux Mercury Glass Ornament Project

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to share with you my latest project which I just completed for DecoArt, faux mercury glass Christmas ornaments. I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But for those of us who craft and create, we need to get a jump start on the season, right?!

So, here is what I came up with............

Do love mercury glass as much as I do?

I just adore it and can't seem to get enough of it!

So, I decided to create these using plain ol' clear plastic ornaments!

Yep, I used plastic! While I would rather have glass ornaments, I didn't want to worry about breakage if I were to ship these. So after much debate, I went with the plastic (you can easily find them at Hobby Lobby or Michael's).

For my project, I wanted to make a coordinating storage box. Something that would not only be a convenient place to store the ornaments after the holidays, but would be a pretty addition to Christmas decor.

I decided on a French theme, all dusted with plenty of glitter!

(still holding Paris close to my thoughts and prayers.)

I sat up my little faux tree in our sunroom for the photo shoot.

Making the ornaments was a bit of a process. But thru trial and error, and more than a bit of lack of patience, (I might have tossed out a few 4 letter words, gasp!), I finally got the look I was going for!

First, you spray a fine mist of water into the insides of each ornament.

Squirt in a bit of metallic silver paint...............

Sprinkle in a generous amount of fine silver glitter (I know, you are shocked by that, right?!)

Then swirl it around in the ball.

Place them upside down in disposable cups overnight.

If you are like me, you can't stand the thought of wasting anything!

Don't worry, you can reuse the excess paint for another project if you wish!

I was really liking the look so far.

But, the next day, not so much!

More of the paint drained out than I had expected, and I just wasn't happy with how things were looking.

So, a bit of brainstorming, and I decided to swirl in some more silver paint, along with just a few squirts of black to give more depth and again.

Ahhh, just what I was going for!

I repeated the steps a few times, letting the excess paint drain out overnight.

It took quite awhile for the paint to totally dry inside.

Then I could begin decoupaging them!

I found my images on Pinterest, as well as the Graphic's Fairy.

Those pretty butterflies are from the premium membership that I bought from the Graphic's Fairy (love!!).

And surprise, more glitter was added!

I tied narrow silver ribbon to the caps, and must say I am really happy with the end result!

Finally!!

Who would guess that these are just plastic?

This sweet little angel, above it one of my very favorites!

I bought a large paper mache box, which I painted with chalky finish paint.

Then I decoupaged the sides and lid with my French graphics, and dusted with more glitter.

17 comments:

Such a great idea-I want to make some! I better get my craft shed set up soon but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen in time for Christmas :( Your little faux tree looks perfect with these ornaments!

Wow- Those are gorgeous, Donna! JUST BEAUTIFUL!!!! You would never know they were plastic to look at them. Those sound like they were a lot of work-but worth it because look how they turned out. xo Diana

Oh Donna, they are beautiful. They looks very expensive - you did a terrific job on them.The box is also beautiful and what a great place to store them..

My living room looks like a bomb went off. Plastic boxes all over the place. Now to just get my creative juices going would be great. I am afraid that it left. The dogs keep looking at me like I am crazy.

Hi Donna, WOW these are amazing. Love how they turned out and they look like very high end mercury glass ornaments. You would never know they are plastic. How pretty they look on the tree. Thanks for sharing your steps. Looks like a lot of layering to achieve the end results but so worth the effort.Happy Designing! xo

Boy Donna did your work payoff in a huge way. These are just beautiful and the touch of black paint you added gave them more dimension. The images you chose are perfect and yes I love mercury glass. The box is a great touch too. You rocked these.

Hi Donna,I really love Mercury glass, and ornaments in it is a favorite, I am going to try and fit in time to try my hand at them, perhaps give them a bit of my twist to them with adding some crusty-ness to the outside.Love the message of beauty here on your tree, it's going to be a beautiful Christmas here.